White Rosepetal Dance
Lila vs Mirror
With a cough, the host began to move. Coughing as if gasping for air he looked up at the chaos going on with wide confused eyes. He looked at the one who was speaking as she elegantly walked her way down the staircase. Her petite form and alluring sweet voice were out of place in such a violent place. He crawled to his knees. "So.. You've finally come.. Lila." The host's body began to crumble as if he were made of glass. But as the pieces fell from his body it was clear it was ice. A wind suddenly started blowing from seemingly nowhere inside of the inn, a cold wind. The kitchen door of the inn beside the bar table's left side slowly opened. Stepping out in a misty haze of frost that began eliminating the warmth of the room immediately, was Mirror. He looked at Lila who stood at the stairs next to where he now walked. Heading toward the center of the restaurant floor. "I knew this day would come.. It was unfortunate what happened to your parents. I won't make excuses. IF this is the path forward you've chosen to take." He sighed. A blade made of ice, but remarkably detailed as if it were a conjured weapon, appeared in his right hand. His back formed wings of ice, expanding outwards and knocking away the tables and chairs to the walls and corners of the room. (edited) A snow flurry began to sprinkle around everywhere. Those injured were slowly restored. Their blood hardening and their flesh reforming over it. Baring with the increasing cold was the harder part. A shadow ignored its opponent and went for Mirror, ignoring the sanctity of this display. Before it could reach him ice formed around its legs freezing it into a statue of ice. Mirror casually walked to it and gripped its head. Clinching down on it until it was broken to pieces. Blowing in the whirling winds. A sort of circle was made in the center, free of clutter. "So be it. I AM the Aion. The one you want is ME!"
--
Lila watched in silence, her cold, dagger-like eyes aware of every movement made by the ones who were fighting. One of them, the black-winged seraphim said something about remembering her name, with a ridiculous grin on his face. For her, the black-winged seraphim were less than a speck of dust, not worthy of attention and his words sounded like nothing but ramblings of a madman. The way he talked was almost as if he thought he had won something in knowing her name, which was honestly, almost amusing seeing as how Lila announced who she was for everyone to see before he began falling on a portal he made, only to be pulled from it, due to the darkness interfering with his magic. The second one to speak also took a rather foolish, though amusing approach, provoking and going on in a futile bravado as he said how everything she said was an excuse just for them to slaughter innocent. Foolish words coming from an ignorant man. It was painfully obvious that he indeed wasn't a member of the Aion. [color=C6DEFF]"Both of you. Just foolish, ignorant people. You know nothing... Leave my sight before I make you pay for your foolish bravado."[/color] Lila said in a cold, harsh voice, almost disappointed as she struck the end of her scythe on the ground with an audible sound. Her stare and tone of voice, a clear indication that she would tolerate further defiance, neither from both of them nor from anyone else.
The very moment after she said that though, a new figure appeared, going down the staircase. The host mentioned her name, with an incredibly familiar voice before his very body began to crumble in ice as he crawled on the ground. A sudden cold wind began blowing inside the inn, as a person Lila once knew very well got out from the kitchen, entering the room through the door near the bar. Mirror. Hearing that voice after so long made old and new emotions swirl inside Lila as she grabbed her scythe, looking towards him with piercing eyes, filled with a multitude of feelings. Her cold visage beginning to crack under all those emotions. [color=C6DEFF]"I gave you the benefit of the doubt... Seeing as you always treated me better than the others... But you did have a hand on what happened, didn't you?"[/color] she began, almost hissing as heard what he said about her parents. [color=C6DEFF]"Unfortunate?! You lied to me! Manipulated me! All these years, raised as a tool, a dog for the Aion to hunt my own kind!"[/color] she said, trying her hardest to keep her emotions in check. [color=C6DEFF]"The Aion want nothing but to perpetuate this foolish conflict... To you, we are all monsters. Parasites, aren't we? It's not about peace. It's simply about purging my kind, isn't it? The Moriarty and the peaceful faction died simply so you could continue your 'holy crusade'! What was your reason for killing them? The fact that they didn't believe in slavery? The fact that they sold their music and poems to the other nations, providing 'clean' blood for Nero? Nero could have been different... My life could have been different..."[/color] she continued, her eyes and voice filled with hate.
[color=C6DEFF]"But if you are the Aion... [i]you[/i] took that from us. From me. You began this conflict, denied Nero from a better future... Leaving only hate and the corruption that now plagues MY home! YOU created the monsters you now face, Mirror..."[/color] she said, both her voice and eyes as cold as the ice Mirror conjured himself. [color=C6DEFF]"And I will be the last monster standing when all this ends..."[/color] Lila said, in a threateningly low tone as she dashed towards Mirror in a surprising speed, swinging her scythe in a deadly arch, nothing but a silvery streak cutting through the air as it went towards Mirror. Even though it was a simple attack, it was definitely not an ordinary one. The mere way she moved and the sound of the scythe cutting the air were enough to send shivers down one's spine, beautiful, but at the same time, dreadful. [color=C6DEFF]"The Aion... The Dolofon... I will let no one stand between me and the future that I envision for my loved one and our home."[/color] she said as she got closer to Mirror in a whisper, just a fraction of a second before her attack was about to connect.
--
Mirror only watched Lila with a mostly cool demeanor. Raising his blade to eye level to be prepared for any surprise attacks. "What's the point of this? You're just as much a puppet now as you were then!" As Mirror yelled the winds began to concentrate towards Lila. His voice having a tone of anger in them, his face stressing more askew to a person howling in the wind to steel their nerves for an incoming storm. He breathed in, raising his head as he looked Lila down. Calmly he spoke. "Your eyes.. You can see, can't you? Yet you're still blind!" Her sudden forward dash made Mirror brace himself, as her words vibrated into his eardrums he launched himself backward with a leaping back-step. "Even worse!" He shouted while his blade briefly clashed with Lila's scythe, to throw off her momentum, Mirror using the momentum now to spin on the ground, sliding on the ice to retain speed and throw a spinning kick to Lila's left side. His icy wings sprinkling blue feathers around the two like the snowfall. "You're still a child!"
--
[color=C6DEFF]"Your words fail you, Mirror! You haven't denied a single thing I said! It is all true, isn't it?!"[/color] Lila shouted, her eyes filled with hate as she felt the impact of her scythe clashing with his blade, interrupting her attack. [color=C6DEFF]"It was completely fine when I was [i]your[/i] puppet then?!"[/color] she said, hissing angrily at Mirror. [color=C6DEFF]"I am not blind, Mirror. Not anymore. I gained much more than just my sight when I stopped being the Aion's puppet!"[/color] she continued, watching as Mirror used the momentum from her own attack to send a spinning kick to her side. Seeing his kick approach her side too fast for her to pull back her scythe and block, Lila gave a quick jump backwards, holding her scythe by the very tip and avoiding Mirror's kick. Due to the position her scythe was after her horizontal slash being intercepted, Mirror ended up kicking not Lila but the shaft of the Scythe. Using the impact and the momentum of Mirror's kick, Lila swung her scythe in a very wide circle, effortlessly cutting the few chairs and tables on it's way, spinning until it was about to hit Mirror again.
[color=C6DEFF]"The Aion are the ones who turned Nero into what it is right now! All the corruption, the hatred, prejudice, the slaves! Everything is a reflection from your own hate towards us!"[/color] she said. [color=C6DEFF]"Answer me! Defend yourself! SAY SOMETHING!!"[/color] she shouted, her words, filled with emotions, echoing through the room in a sound of wave, enough to make one's ears ring and even a bit dizzy as her scythe approached Mirror, it's speed further bolstered by Mirror's own kick.
--
Lila wouldn't notice immediately but the contact made with her scythe coated the area he hit with ice. The swinging of her scythe whirling ice as it came, hitting its mark. Mirror was visibly hit but his body did not shed blood, even as his upper half and lower half were slowly separating. Instead between where flesh would be was ice. "To believe the vile ways of Nero is the fault of the Aion..." Mirror's body gave out a bright flash of light and cold. When the flash of light subsided Mirror stood behind Lila, looking away from her. "You've gone insane.." He sighed. Stepping away slowly from the statue of ice Lila had become. Divine ice coating her and her scythe in a dazzling sparkling encasement of ice. "I know little of the Moriarty of Nero. But I'm not responsible for their deaths. Blame their kin, the ones you fight for, they indiscriminately fed on seraphim before I was even born." Mirror continued walking away so long as Lila could do nothing to resist her cage.
--
Lila was undeniably surprised when she saw that, despite having cleanly cut Mirror in half, what she saw wasn't blood or flesh, but instead pure ice as his two halves slowly separated from one another after her attack. Unable to react in time, Lila was caught by the explosion of light and cold, completely encasing her in a layer of ice. Unable to move, Lila could only hear as Mirror continued talking. No matter how much she struggled, the ice was too strong for her to break out of it by herself and hearing Mirror's voice getting farther away from her made her blood boil. After everything, he would escape her again. Would she really be unable to face and beat the very man who represented her entire past, the entire life she lived as a puppet, a weapon? No... She was different now than she was then. She was stronger, wiser... Anui gave her more than just sight, he opened her mind to what was happening. Only a second after Mirror began walking away, not only him but all those inside the Inn would be able to hear the loud noise of the ice he had encased Lila in cracking. A big crack appeared right on the middle of the ice layer as shadows got out of it, spreading through the ground, walls and anything they could touch. One after another, more cracks in the ice began appearing as the very light seemed to avoid even touching the darkness. With one final crack, the ice prison Mirror made for Lila crumbled. The darkness that followed it quickly swallowed everything and everyone around Lila in a radius of 25m, leaving them not only in complete darkness, but in complete silence as well. All sounds, be them screams, shouts or anything were distant, drowned by the darkness that surrounded them.
Amidst all the darkness, only one sound was clear enough to be distinguished, coming from everywhere and at the same time, nowhere, using sound manipulation to hide her position while she walked around Mirror. [color=C6DEFF]"I see... It doesn't really matter to you who the peaceful faction or the Moriarty was, does it? To you, all Nayus are the same corrupt beings that need to be purged. All are condemned to the same fate, with no hopes for redemption. No matter if you helped to make them what they are today..."[/color] She said, her voice different from before. Her anger was still there but it was not colder, calmer. The voice of someone who had steeled their mind and would not hesitate anymore. [color=C6DEFF]"There is no need to talk anymore..."[/color] she finished, in a rather ominous tone. The moment her voice stopped, she attacked, a single, quick, ephemeral silvery streak amidst the complete darkness.
--
The darkness overtook even the Basiliskin who were already taking cover from the cold. With complete maddening silence and complete darkness, they could only use their sense of smell and vibration to sense what was happening. This however was very different for Mirror. With his soul detection, he could feel Lila's movements as a dancing array of energy moving towards him. Her weapon was invisible to his senses, however. So with a flap of his wings, he sent himself flying backward, his lower half turning into the cold mist to increase his speed. As he flew back he opened a portal behind Lila and an ice spear flew out of it towards Lila's back.
--
[color=C6DEFF]"Tch..."[/color] Lila said, clicking her tongue as her attack missed Mirror as he moved away from her scythe with a flap of his wings, a reminder that he could still, somehow feel her presence. Still, she was literally in her element now. Surrounded by darkness, even if Mirror could still see her, the advantage was still hers. As Mirror moved away from her, Lila began preparing another attack but was interrupted when she felt a cold air coming from behind her. Out of pure reflex, she turned back, putting her scythe in front of her as she turned, putting it between her and the possible attack. The moment she began turning though, she was met with a surprising sight as Ni'ra jumped down from above, pushing the ice spear away with her blade. Nodding towards Ni'ra. [color=C6DEFF]"Thank you. Be careful with him."[/color] she said. Lila knew how dangerous Mirror was and while she wouldn't reject Ni'ra's help, she would certainly still warn her about him. Following that, Lila heard Faetin grumbling, while she was too distracted, focusing on Mirror to pay attention in what he had said, she saw the shadow spikes appearing from the ground the moment he jumped down and his fists touched the ground, aiming the others at the Inn. Even though his attack had failed due to Mirror hastily casting a protection spell, Faetin's attack gave her an idea. Even though Mirror could still feel her presence, the fact that he moved much farther than he needed to dodge her previous attack meant that he couldn't see her weapon. She didn't know if he was able to perceive her shadow attacks or not, but she was about to discover that. Once again dashing towards Mirror, Lila swung her scythe in a similar movement she made the first time, a wide horizontal slash, although this time she simply loosened her grip on her weapon, letting it fly away from her hands towards Mirror with a deadly speed. In order to trick Mirror though, she continued moving her hands and her body as if she still had the scythe in her hands. Should her throw miss Mirror, she would use shadow stepping to appear next to the thrown scythe, grabbing it in the air and using the momentum in another attack towards Mirror. Should it hit, she would appear in front of him instead, grabbing the scythe and digging it deeper into him before ripping the blade out of him in a horizontal motion.
--
With his detection ability, he knew Lila was coming for an attack. When she tossed her Scythe Mirror was only slightly aware of it. The enchantment of the weapon had it inherently give off an essence he could detect. Though it was weak given it was not imbued with intense power. With a barrier of ice he blocked the blade from his body, Lila landing on the ice barrier and breaking it as she grabbed her scythe to try and hit Mirror with it. This took him by surprise but he quickly dashed to the left, narrowly avoiding her with a gust of cold wind . He seemed to be on the run for now, but the cold began to grow around Lila. Mirror's lower half reforming and he landed on the ground. His blade prepared to defend against more of her attacks.
--
Lila could feel Mirror's cold beginning to envelop her. Even though she was moving around, his ability was still problematic. He was trying to tire her and sap her stamina by lowering the temperatures around her. While her last attack almost hit him, Mirror was still able to dodge it, albeit by only a little. But if he was going to continue with that tactic of only running away, then Lila would use that to her own advantage. Dashing towards him, Lila prepared another attack, another horizontal slash followed by a second one, using the momentum from the first. By keeping moving towards him, she would force him to act. By moving towards him while attacking, she would force him to move back, especially since she was using wide horizontal slashes, which would give her an opening to strike him with a spike of darkness, rising it from the ground.
If he chose to block it though, she would use that brief moment to make three spikes rise from the ground, aiming at his sides and his back. While Mirror might not know, Lila couldn't delay that fight for too long as she knew that the cold would be a problem for her. If she did manage to spill his blood though, then Mirror would be in trouble. Too distracted by the current fight though, Lila didn't notice as the other warriors, the same who were fighting against the shadows earlier, began to slowly make their moves, especially since they weren't moving towards her nor with any intention to attack her.
--
Lila's continuous advance made Mirror retreat even further. In the empty void of darkness he was forced into he couldn't sense the wall he was approaching. But eventually, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep running. Even if his senses were removed he could fight back. Yet he hesitated, why? He was not afraid to fight the Dolofon, or the entire kingdom of Nero if he had to. But what was it about Lila that made him feel so...? "What's that child doing in a bar?" Asked a seraphim waitress. She was looking at Mirror, standing by a table with a red-headed child, barely able to see above the table. Her little black dress was woven like a miniature maid, black shoes, white stockings, and all. Mirror stood over her with an attentive look, smiling as he looked to the waitress. "This little princess here is Lila. She's going to be a regular. Though she only drinks the best quality stuff." He chuckled loudly.
He knelt down to eye level to Lila who looked at him coldly. "Now, Lila I suppose you're hungry right?" She simply nodded in reply. Mirror grinned and lifted a glass bottle with a blue liquid inside. The glass was frosted with cold. The top was closed with a cork. "This is special, only for you Lila." He began to remove the cork with his hands. "You may feel the urge to eat somewhere else one day, Lila, but you shouldn't. When you feel that way just come here, I will make sure you're fed." The lid was removed and the icy mist from within began to stream inches from its source before fading. The blue liquid inside began turning red instantly. He placed a cup on the table and filled it with the red, frosting, liquid. "This is my essence. With it, you will grow strong and elegant. Your brothers and sisters at the orphanage are relying on you to protect them." He said as he watched her delighted smile as she sipped from her cup. "I know you will feel different... The others at the orphanage may consider you not a sister... You and I will be closer than any of them could ever be. You too will be a part of me as well." He formed, in a flash of cold, a piece of ice shaped like a heart. "In here." He pointed to the heart. Though Lila may have not understood it, he smiled with assurance. "You'll get it one day."
So far backing up farther was enough to avoid Lila's attacks, she was fast, but Mirror was too. However, she left him little time to react to her combination of attacks. With his wings coming around him he formed a barrier of ice. The dark spikes impaling them but not piercing entirely through. Within this ball of ice, made of countless feather-shaped pieces, was a somber-faced Mirror. His eyes closed as if he were silently getting a cold night's sleep. "She won't be a danger! She's just a child!" Mirror stood before a group of seraphim within an underground room. They sat as a group but only Mirror stood. Standing before them were a few elder seraphim. "Foolishness. All beings in this world desire seraphim. The Nayu are the worst, a splinter of blood will be enough to set the girl on a dark path. The path within her own blood!" Another argued, standing to their feet. "Silence! Mirror you will assure the girl does not get out of hand. If so she will be dealt with." The elder seraphim said with solemn authority. (edited) Looking into the eyes of his peers he could see their hatred for the idea of a Nayu existing in the orphanage. Let alone one being a part of their Aion faction. "I will train her..." He uttered under a frustrated tone. "I won't let her be killed by one of your misguided anger..." Mirror's eyes began to open as he faded out of his memories. "To kill the one you once loved." His lips parted to speak these words, yet perhaps only those listening to his brain waves could hear it. A tear froze as it attempted to stream down his left cheek. The ice around him whirling as a tornado, ice and cold bombarding Lila's armor, layering it with a thin frost. "For the sake of the seraphim, for the innocent, I will end this!" Mirror's body was whole and covered in full armor from head to toe. His wings were slimmer, less icy, but had a dazzling translucent blue. Blade and shield in his hands. He was prepared now to fight with all he had.
--
Despite the relentless sequence of attacks, Mirror continued being able to avoid Lila's scythe. Even if he avoided her attacks by a milliliter, no matter what she did she wasn't able to hit him. She tried changing her tactics, hitting in different angles, but somehow Mirror was always a single step ahead of her. It was frustrating, but Lila knew that Mirror wouldn't be an easy opponent. Nonetheless, Lila knew that neither of them could continue like that. Mirror would soon or later get tired, or make a mistake when trying to dodge her blows and Lila could feel the air getting colder and colder around her. Despite her focus and the continuous barrage of attacks, Lila could still see the single frozen tear on Mirror's face, before ice began whirling around him, forcing her to jump back or continue to be bombarded by it. Even now, even after having steeled her resolve to complete what she came to do, a multitude of different feelings still filled her mind. Mirror lied to her, he used and manipulated her... So why was he crying now? She was always treated like a weapon or a monster, but even though Mirror still used her, he was one of the few who still cared about her. Was all that also a lie? Was it just him trying to manipulate her? The words Mirror said next as he covered his body in an armor of ice sent a shock through Lila's mind. Once again she felt betrayed by his words. Indeed, she was being naive and foolish thinking all that. He didn't care about her, he didn't care about [i]a nayu[/i]... [color=C6DEFF]"... It's always for the sake of the seraphim... But when you say 'innocent', you truly mean only the [i]seraphim[/i] innocent, don't you?"[/color] Lila hissed in a cold, hostile tone. [color=C6DEFF]"Everyone knows that there is no such thing as an innocent Nayu... We are all monsters, aren't we? The Nero citizens, who only want to live their lives, the orphans, victims of Aion raids and your indiscriminate Nayu slaughter or the corruption that plagues Nero... Every single one of them, monsters."[/color] she continued, looking towards Mirror, her eyes burning with hatred as a tear began rolling down her cheeks, surprising even Lila herself. [color=C6DEFF]"I was foolish..."[/color] she said, quickly wiping the single tear with an quick, impatient gesture, almost as if she was angry at herself for letting it escape her eyes. [color=C6DEFF]"I thought that you cared about me. That just because you treated me differently from the other Aion, because you treated me a [i]little[/i] better, that you really thought differently than them... But until the end, I was just a tool for you..."[/color] she said, breathing deeply as her eyes became cold once more, every signal of that single tear gone, probably to never return. [color=C6DEFF]"And now that this tool is not useful to you anymore, you want to eliminate it... I really, almost thought you felt something... I am glad I was mistaken..."[/color] she said, using her shadow step ability to disappear in the shadows, appearing a moment later behind Mirror, already in a low stance before attacking in a lightning fast slash, using her entire body's strength to dash towards him.
--
"My power is for all good people. But the seraphim come first, you know this!" Mirror shouted before she vanished. He followed the trail of her spiritual source to the shadows behind him. Only countless battles against Nero's forces prepared him for these techniques. With equal speed to Lila's weapon, his shield met her blade, scraping its defensive shell, and doing so with his backhand allowed him to deflect the blade. The added benefit of being made of ice was not lost either. It would be difficult for Lila to find her footing given the slick ice Mirror spread on the ground around him.
With the same movement of deflecting he pushed his blade forward to strike Lila head-on through her abdomen. "Your only chance at survival was to become a weapon for good! Now you've become the very thing that kills the innocent!" Mirror spoke with great conviction, in no way were the royals of Nero not the ones harming the people. "You've even brought your slaves to fight for you!" He scoffed, wings pushing him forward.
--
Lila felt the impact as her scythe struck Mirror's shield as he deflected her blow, hissing as he did so. The layer of ice covering the ground made Lila struggle to keep her balance, slamming the end of her rapier in the ground in order to not fall down. Just as she did so though, Mirror attacked her once again, thrusting his sword as he aimed right at her abdomen. Not being able to block his blow with her scythe nor dodge it perfectly due to being still trying to regain her balance, Lila instead stopped trying to regain her balance and simply twisted her body as she fell to the ground, using her shadow step ability in order to retreat, appearing a few meters away from Mirror, recovering herself. Mirror was showing to be a much more problematic enemy than Lila had thought he would be. The fact that he knew her capabilities and seemed to be doing his best to not let her draw his blood only made things even more complicated. [color=C6DEFF]"Your hands are stained with blood, Mirror. Just as much as mine are."[/color] Lila asked, her eyes filled with hate as she heard the words Mirror had just said. [color=C6DEFF]"Peace and prosperity for the Seraphim, even if that means trampling over the lives of thousands of Nayus... Innocent or not. When the Nayus are finally no more, which other race will you 'sacrifice' for the good of the Seraphim?"[/color] she continued.
[color=C6DEFF]"How is being a weapon being any different from being a slave, Mirror? Does being a weapon [i]for the Seraphim[/i] means it's not bad or wrong? Just admit, you don't care about the Nayu. You don't care about what happens in Nero. Just as you didn't care nor did anything to stop the slaughter of the same Nayus who could've changed Nero! Neither you nor the Aion see Nayus as descended, do you? Are our lives worthless? Or you will you find another poor Nayu, kidnap them from their family and use them as your weapon?"[/color] she said, hissing to him. [color=C6DEFF]"On a place where they would be treated as mere slaves, I extended my hand to them, taught them how to fight in order to conquer their own freedom. The Basiliskin follow me because they believe in me. Because I treat them not as slaves, but as warriors."[/color] she said as she got up again, recovering from Mirror's last attack before she dashed towards him again, swinging her scythe in a big horizontal arc before using the same momentum to start a series of fluid, linked attacks.
--
Ni'ra, unlike some of her peers, was adapting quite well to the now slippery environment. Claws and blade for traction, tail for changing directions quickly by grappling to things, she soon began to make her own move. "Ni'ra zee Li'la!" she called out, signaling that she recognized what Lila was doing and she was about to join her. In a flash, the basiliskin girl was practically slithering around Lila, moving in unison with her and filling gaps in Lila's swings to keep Mirror pressured or to trip him up. A puff of breath, a tail sweep, a dagger thrust, all while dancing in what most people would say to be inside Lila's personal space. That was, until midway though, she wrapped a tail on a rafter and quickly pulled herself up and away from Lila, hopping around to try to take Mirror from another angle, but seeming to wait for a right moment to strike while harassing him by darting in and out of combat. she was trying to keep Mirror's rhythm broken and his attention split, even if she couldn't fight him effectively, she hoped it would be enough to help Lila.
--
"The Aion may have killed. But you are living proof we are not senseless murderers. I can't say the same for those in Nero!" Mirror's voice echoed through Lila's darkness, and only she could choose to sense these. As he was forced to hear her. "What is all the bloodshed worth to you Lila? A bed in the royal halls of the roots of evil?" Mirror slid across the ice, skating effortlessly to gain speed to prepare for any attacks. "The Nayu is a cursed bloodline, made even more so by their own kind. Those that live blind, starved and dying in the depths of Nero never meet the blade of a seraph. Their demise is of their own people's doing. We merely give those standing on these countless corpses a taste of their own medicine. Never can we the Aion enact such suffering on such a scale as the Nero elites!" With a surge of cold, he went for Lila's location. "I made you a protector! But failed to guide your mind to the right path..." Their blades met with a clash, sparks flying from both heat and cold. The sharpness of their weapons causing a flare-up of atoms. Mirror's armored head spoke closer now to Lila, she could feel the cold from his lips escaping his helmet. "They FEAR you Lila! That is not the same as believing in you!"
A flash of light and ice and Mirror was out of his armor, yet his weapon and suit remained, fighting on its own. His real body flew through the air towards Ni'ra. "I will not risk harming one of your slaves! None of them!" Ice formed in his hands in particles. Ni'ra was quickly embraced by Mirror as she tried to harm him, likely not noticing quick enough of the separation he made with his armor due to his flash of light. An ability he learned from the Sol. "Sleep." Mirror's body, Ni'ra will find, was made entirely of ice, as her claws dug into him it allowed him to absorb her fingers into him, freezing them and her whole body in another flash of light. Ni'ra was now harmlessly frozen in magical ice. Mirror then fired ice arrows at the other Basiliskin archers. The ice arrows once hitting them began to freeze their bodies instead of piercing their flesh.
Mirror landed after firing the arrows almost simultaneously and instantly after freezing Ni'ra. He skated on the ground and controlled his armor to fight Lila as much as she wished. Though he knew it would not be long until she discovered his trick. "You can never kill me Lila, I am the result of Nero's torment. I am its bane. Now that you have become a part of them I am yours too."
The black mages were hardly able to defend themselves as Candy and Lilith attacked as much as possible. The darkness surrounding the inn began to dissipate as the blood of the mages began to stain the fresh green moss rugs and wooden furnishing in the room. The front doors began to be hit over and over. Vrondi soldiers now at the door preparing to charge in. Mirror looked at the front door with a smirk. "It seems your plan has failed. Run along now." He chuckled a bit out of breath to Lila.
--
Ni'ra tried to desperately bite at the winged man when she was pinned by Mirror, but quickly realized that she couldn't move because she was being frozen. The cold scared her, ever since she was little, and the sensation of being frozen filled her with terror, unknowing that it was harmless. "L-li'la! Ni'ra can not-," she struggled. "Feh! N-no! LI'LA-" and then she was cut off, frozen with her looking back to Lila to help her and unable to move.
--
Even though Lila was trying to keep her emotions under control, every word Mirror said only made her hatred burn stronger. Since the moment she began getting more aware of her own feelings, after meeting Anui, there was only one feeling that was as strong as the love she felt for Anui... it was hatred. The hatred she felt for those who used, the hatred she felt for those who killed her family and denied her everything, the hatred she felt for those who discriminated her for her race... Even the hatred she felt towards Dextra, Sleeth and the Nayu Elders. The burning hatred she had repressed for decades which was only balanced for the love she felt for Anui. [color=C6DEFF]"Say it, Mirror! Stop trying to put it in pretty words! What you and the Aion want is simply to erase the Nayu from the face of the earth! That was your intention all along! You never wanted the peaceful faction to gain strength and end the war, didn't you? Thats why the Aion MASSACRED them!"[/color] Lila said, hissing as she continued her flurry of blows. Even when Ni'ra approached her, helping her against Mirror, Lila's hatred, her desire to cut down the man in front of her was too strong for her do or say anything, being only aware of Ni'ra's presence enough to not cut her down with her own scythe. [color=C6DEFF]"You were the ones who always saw and treated us as monsters! If the Nayu are cursed, you were the ones that created this curse! Your acts towards the peaceful faction only confirmed that you never had any intention of ending this war. Your holy crusade is nothing but a farce!"[/color] she shouted as their blades clashed once more, their faces only inches away from each other.
[color=C6DEFF]"If fear is what it's needed for this war to end, to change Nero and get rid of the curse created by the Aion, to change how the world sees the Nayu people, then I will make the whole world fear me! I will carve open a path of corpses and blood if that is what I have to do! My hands are already stained with blood, but I won't let my children have the same cursed fate you gave me, Nero and the other Nayu, Mirror."[/color] she said in a low, menacing tone. [color=C6DEFF]"The Aion will fall, I will see it through [i]personally[/i]... I don't care if you are blind to how corrupt the Aion truly are or if you are the cause of this corruption, Mirror... As long as you stand between me and my goal, I WILL CUT YOU DOWN."[/color] she finished, looking deep within Mirror's eyes as she said so. At that moment, a flash of ice and light momentarily blinded Lila once again, before they faded. It was only after a few seconds with her blade still clashing with Mirror's that Lila realized that she was fighting against his armor and Mirror himself went for Ni'ra and the basiliskin, quickly encasing them in solid ice. Realizing what it had happened, Lila quickly shoved Mirror's armor aside with a powerful blow before she made another spike of darkness rise from the ground towards him. [color=C6DEFF]"You are the CAUSE for Nero's torment! A hypocrite selling a 'solution' for the problem he created!"[/color] she said. looking at him with a hateful gaze. Still Lila realized what he had done with the time she was distracted with his armor. All the basiliskin were encased in solid ice and the Nayu forces were dwindling down. The portal created by the Nayu sorcerers was weakening and the noises coming from upstairs were a clear indication that they were being attacked. [color=C6DEFF]"Retreat! Grab the wounded and the frozen!"[/color] Lila shouted, barely able to contain her hatred, knowing that their plan had failed, while making sure to keep the darkness bubble around for as long as possible in order to cover their escape.
--
"Where do you think you're going, Lila?" Mirror turned to look at her with a sharp glare and fury in his eyes. His ice cold demeanor breaking for just a moment. He turned to face her entirely. She could tell through out this battle what level his aura was due to the cold mist emitting from his "body." "You're not going anywhere." Ice began to climb the walls immediately in a bright flash of light, brighter than any other Mirror has unleashed so far. Almost the entire building was now covered in ice. The floor beneath Lila began to glow with a bright light. Eliminating her shadows but also swallowing them. Her feet were next and soon she found herself being pulled into, no, falling into, a portal created by Mirror that took the entire floor. Falling through it almost immediately due to there being no shadows to vanish to in its light. Mirror too began to sink into a portal of his own under his feet. Soon both Lila and Mirror were free falling into a world made of ice and cold. Below them sat an arena, a flat platform. Landing with his wings Mirror descended slowly. Coming to a stop at the middle of the arena. "Here I can go all out. You brought this upon yourself, Lila." His hands summoned a blade right there, slowly molding it into a elegant form.
--
When Lila heard Mirror's voice the moment he said she wasn't going anywhere, she immediately looked back at him. While she said nothing, her stare already said more than enough. Lila recognized Mirror's aura as he covered the building with his ice. Before she could react though, the ground beneath her suddenly began to glow, eliminating her shadows before it turned into a portal, taking both Lila and Mirror himself to an arena completely made with ice. Instead of being intimidated though, there was only hatred on Lila's eyes as she looked at Mirror with her scythe on hands. While it was true she wanted to retreat, she didn't want to do so to run away from Mirror, but in order to not let the Basiliskin she trained get wounded or worse. Unfortunately, she was now forced into that arena with Mirror. [color=C6DEFF]"I always knew that there is only one person I can completely trust on this world besides myself... But I never expected such situation to happen... Such irony... It seems the bloodshed won't end with just the Aion today."[/color] Lila said to herself with a bitter chuckle as she gave a few steps forward to the center of the arena.
[color=C6DEFF]"I was always taught that the methods used are as important as the results and for the longest time, I held the ideal that one's performance was measured by having no collateral damage, no unnecessary deaths, but today you showed me I was wrong, Mirror. You have my thanks."[/color] Lila said in a grim tone. [color=C6DEFF]"A weapon's performance is only measured by how efficient it is. It doesnt matter how clean or elegant the cut is, as long as it kills quickly, without wasting time or energy. So I won't waste any energy with anything other than being efficient and my final goal."[/color] she continued with her heavy words carrying a terrible sense of foreboding. [color=C6DEFF]"Yours will be the first drops of blood from the sea of blood that will drown this town today, Mirror. Seraphim or Nayu, it doesn't matter. Everything that stands in my way will meet the same end. After dealing with you, I will deal with Dextra and the Nayu nobles who betrayed me, then I will finish whatever remained of your precious Aion."[/color] she said as the very air and the atmosphere seemed to get heavier. Once again, betrayal had played a crucial part in changing Lila, both her personality and the way she saw and interacted with the world around her. [color=C6DEFF]"You should pray to your ancestors for something to be able to kill me today, Mirror. If not, a new monster will be unleashed into the world."[/color] she completed as she slowly began to walk towards Mirror.
--
Mirror didn't say a word seeming intent on battling Lila with all that he had. He watched Lila as she came to the center. Her sweet voice contrasted by the reaper's sickle in her hands. "The irony is not lost to me." He said, almost in a whisper as if speaking to himself. His eyes met his blade as he looked down with a final bitter breathe. "The lives lost today are on your head Lila, not mine." He looked up at her bringing the blade between his eyes as he prepared a stance. One with far more opened legs and loose than before.
"Since the day I decided to feed you my blood I knew this moment may happen. It's a shame you're proving all of those who doubted you right! You were supposed to be our savior, and now look at you!" Ice particles began to visibly appear in the air a few feet in all directions around him. Beautiful snowflakes floating all around. "Kill all you like but you will NEVER find the one who cares for you! Your descent into madness needs to end! How glorious it is that I am here to put it to an end!"
The snowflakes formed into small mirrors, reflecting the light coming from this dimension a bit. "MY ancestors are smiling upon me. Can you say the same?" The mirrors formed together behind him. Touching the ground and all. He then moved out of its path and now Lila could see her own reflection. Something she may have never done since gaining her sight. "Your eyes are no longer blind. Yet you cannot see the monster inside you has already won." He pointed his blade in her direction as he spoke. He then used his soul sense in preparation for her abilities. Yet his eyes widened as if in shock. "Inside... you?" He muttered. Gritting his teeth with a perplexing mix of emotions. Anger, fear, bitter disgust. "I see.." He looked down as she continued approaching with her weapon. Her aura exuding the stench of bloodlust. Yet it was something else, something pure? That made him pause... Was this an opening?
--
Lila couldn't help but give an acid, sarcastic chuckle as Mirror told her that the lives that would be lost were on her head. Those words were completely meaningless for Lila, someone who had already killed so many under the orders of the Aion, guilty and innocent alike. [color=C6DEFF]"Oh, so you Aion don't consider the thousands that died in the massacre of the Nero peaceful faction as lives that were lost? Thousands of peaceful Nayu families were slaughtered and you even kidnapped the only survivor, raising her as a weapon against their own kin. Do you still think such atrocities were justified? What is the excuse this time? Was it 'for the greater good'? Was it because Nayu do not deserve to live?"[/color] Lila said, with an acid, sarcastic tone in her voice. [color=C6DEFF]"Truly befitting words for an Aion. Blind to the corruption that fester within their own hearts and believing to be always right, pure and righteous... Such hypocrites."[/color] she said with an acid tone. As he continued Mirror was just like the rest of the Aion. Arrogant, conceited, believing themselves to be the righteous, pure beings that would bring salvation unto this world, using this belief as justification for the atrocities they commit 'for the greater good'. Blind to the corruption festering within their own hearts and the harm their actions were causing. As he continued, his delusional words only sounded even more insane for Lila. Kidnapping the only survivor of a massacre they did, raising her as a weapon while suffering extreme prejudice and believing she should be their 'savior'? While they liked to portray themselves as the righteous ones, they were as bad as the Dolofon themselves. Two sides of the same coin. [color=C6DEFF]"Ancestors? My parents and my family was slaughtered by the Aion, Mirror. I was raised as a weapon for the Aion. I only knew emotions, love and affection when I met my husband."[/color] she hissed as Mirror began forming ice mirrors to reflect her, making Lila see herself for the first time since she gained her sight. A monster? Perhaps, but Lila knew she was so much more. She saw the emotions in her eyes that she didn't know before when she was with the Aion, the determination for crushing her enemies in order to protect that which was dear to her and the strength to do so, the hatred she felt for Mirror and the Aion and even the delicate beauty Anui seemed to like so much in her. What she saw wasn't only a weapon, a princess or a woman, but all of them. What she saw in the reflection was... herself. Not the fragmented being she once believed she was, but all the sides she had learned to accept and embrace, each one of their characteristics that made her the woman she was now. [color=C6DEFF]"I don't need a mirror to know who I am."[/color] Lila said, smashing the mirror to pieces, unfazed by what she saw. [color=C6DEFF]"For you, the Aion and for those who stand in my way, this is the only side of me you will ever see."[/color] Lila said, walking through the now shattered ice shards that made the mirror. The moment she did so though, Mirror seemed to stop for a moment, looking at her in shock. The words he muttered was a dead giveaway for Lila of what he had seen. His words and the reaction he shown, his expression of disgust and fear only made Lila feel even more hatred. The very moment he showed the smallest opening, Lila rushed towards him, aiming to stab the tip of her scythe in his abdomen to hold him in place and biting his neck to drink his blood.
Rewards for Reading!!
Ice barrier shield (Divine/Ice) - A normal sized shield made of divine ice. Can reflect one physical attack, spell, or ability projectile back at an enemy once per use. (-20 Soul per use.)
Shadow Gauntlets (Dark/Steel) - Gauntlets made of shadow infused steel with claws attached. (Deals both Dark/Steel damage.)